Short Story Collection

Redemption

"Oh, no. Oh, this is not good. I overslept. What time is it? Adam is going to be so angry at me if he comes home and sees that the laundry isn't done! Where's my phone?!"

The girl continues to rush around the bed, throwing the sheets all over searching for her phone. She finally feels a moment of relief when tossing the comforter to the left and hearing a thunk at the end of the bed. The blonde bends down and retrieves her phone from the floor.

"Okay. Only two o'clock. Okay, I'm fine. Chill out, Evelyn. All bent out of shape because you overslept." She lets out a breathy chuckle. "Get a grip, go do the laundry, and wash the dishes before Adam comes home at four. I'd rather not experience a repeat of last time, thanks."

Evelyn proceeds to go downstairs and put the laundry in the clothes washer before starting on the dishes.

Just as Evelyn finishes up the last of the dishes, she hears the beep of the washer. She goes to the laundry room and switches the clothes from the washing machine into the dryer. The blonde sets the timer for an hour and walks back upstairs to make the bed that she messed up earlier.

"Okay, cool. Got all that done and still have about an hour and a half before-"

The front door makes a bang as Adam slams it closed. "I swear that idiot of a boss has no clue what he's doing. Using Calvin's marketing idea instead of mine. What an absolute joke!" He grumbles while kicking his shoes off.

"Well, he's definitely not in a good mood if he's slamming the door like that." Evelyn assesses while still in the bedroom upstairs. "Should I greet him, or let him come to me? I'll just go ask him what he wants for dinner since I have to leave for the nightshift at eight anyway." She says while making her way out the door and down the stairs to greet her boyfriend.

"Hey, babe. How was work, you're home earlier than normal." Evelyn greets Adam. "What," he responds, "you don't want me here or something?"

Evelyn is obviously confused by this. "What?" Adam makes his way past her into the kitchen. "No. I was just asking you how work was today." She follows after him to continue the conversation.

Adam opens the fridge door and peers inside. "Well, I'm sorry that I actually work all day and it's not the only thing that I want to be focused on all the time." He closes the door and turns around as Evelyn leans on the kitchen island behind him. "What is that supposed to mean? If you didn't want to talk about your day, you could've just said so. There's no need to be so aggressive."

"Oh, please," he responds. "I did say that I didn't want to talk about it, did I not? Was it not clear enough to you or something? Stop being so sensitive." Adam proceeds to get closer to Evelyn. He eventually stands about three feet away from the blond and leans against the sink while crossing his arms. "And, yeah, I work all day. What about it? What do you do when I'm gone, huh?"

"I do all of the house chores that you refuse to help me with." Evelyn motions towards the rest of the house with her hands. "And stop making it sound like I don't work. You know I have the night shift from eight thirty to four thirty at the warehouse."

Adam responds, "You're so emotional. I can't talk to you when you're like this!" The brunette uncrosses his arms and starts to walk away. "Come back to me when you're ready to stop making everything about yourself." He abruptly halts about halfway to the stairs and turns back to face the honey eyed girl. "You know Evelyn, if everyone acted like you, we would live in Hell on Earth. You should really learn that the world doesn't revolve around you. The more you do this, the more I question myself on why I put up with you."

Hearing this absolutely breaks Evelyn. She's been with Adam for six years, and of course they've had other disagreements, every couple does. It's just that ever since he lost the promotion at the advertising company to Calvin last year, he's been getting progressively worse. Gaslighting Evelyn, invalidating her emotions, using her empathy against her. All like a true narcissist. He's just never gotten physical with her... until now.

Evelyn starts to cry. She doesn't want to because it makes her feel weak in front of Adam. "Evelyn? Oh, please don't cry. I'm so sorry. You know I love you, right?" The brunette makes his way over to the girl. What? Why isn't he yelling me like normal? He loves me? He's sorry?

Adam makes his way over to Evelyn and pulls her into his arms. "You aren't going to yell at me?" The blond asks him as she's pulled into his chest.

"For crying?" Adam asks as he strokes her head. "Of course not, baby. You really think I would yell at you for that?" The brunette rests his hand at the back of Evelyn's head as she looks up at him for a second. The girl doesn't know how to respond, so she just stares at him with bloodshot eyes. "Aw, sweetheart. I would never." Adam says as he just pushes her head back to his chest.

"Okay, that's enough. Calm down, now." Evelyn just can't stop. She still feels so frightened and upset. She doesn't understand why the one person that made her feel so safe, makes her so uncomfortable now. "Evelyn. Cut it out. Stop." She doesn't stop. "Stop. Stop! Just shut up already!"

Adam grabs the blond's shoulders, shoves her into the counter, and wraps both his hands around her throat. "When I speak, you listen. And you just can't seem to listen, so I'll make you." He says eerily, while staring into honey eyes with nothing but rage and contempt.

Why are his pupils so big? What am I supposed to do? My vision is fading. Do I let him kill me? Is this really how I die? Knife! There's a knife in the drawer to my right. Okay. Wait. Am I able to kill Adam? I love him. He loves me? He love- stop! Stop thinking! You are going to die, Evelyn. Get it together! Do it! Do it now!

It all happens so fast. Evelyn shoves her hand towards the drawer to her right, opens it, and grabs the knife placed in the front. She raises the knife behind Adam's back and stabs him in the heart. The brunette lifelessly slumps to the floor, and lays face down as his blood begins to pool around him.

"Adam?" No response. "Adam?" Nothing. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. I killed him. I killed him!" She wails. "I killed him!" Evelyn starts smirking. "I killed him." She just can't control herself. She picks the knife up and starts to stab Adam's body over and over and over again. All the while, she's laughing. It's uncontrollable. She just can't stop.

Evelyn eventually ceases the stabbing, and just sits in a pool of his blood. The blonde is covered in crimson liquid. It's all over her face, in her hair, on her clothes, her hands, her legs. Everywhere.

Still chuckling, she says, "Hah! I killed him!"